WTF

Today was a big day with a finish in Geezer and Rene’s hometown Zacatecas (so... long post and lots of pics). We were blessed with a noon start from the tent in Aguascalientes which was a nice break. I took a brisk swim in the hotel pool in the morning and took my sweet time getting ready. We needed the time because when I arrived at the tent Rene had the back wheel off and said the brake pads were getting thin. Geezer did his famous, “Ach! Don’t worry about it!” so we cleaned the grease up and put it back together. Talking to Ralph and Bill that morning I learned that their seats had worn out andthe springs were poking into their asses. I offered the two foam cushions I had purchased to give me some extra height while driving and they were totally appreciative, saying I had "saved their asses." How I saved Ralph and Bill's asses Rene and I were in the car this morning and we were both excited to hit the Zacatecas area around noon. We had three speed stages to tack...

This beautiful morning in Morelia we had an 8 am start with Rene driving and me navigating. I was getting excited to get closer to Geezer and Rene’s hood. I’ve been to Aguascalientes before as it’s only 1-1/2 hours from Zacatecas and Geezer’s house. Rene and I had a busy morning with a 30 km transit to Mil Cumbres, then four speed stages in a row. Morelia, from my hotel window I was excited to be running the famous Mil Cumbres, but also a little subdued after hearing about the grave condition of the copilot of the Jag that crashed there yesterday. Also, at the starting line where Eduardo Leon normally pokes his head into our car and tells us good luck before waving the green flag, this morning he told us to please be very careful. We had heard from veteran drivers that Mil Cumbres is often foggy in the morning and the roads are damp. I talked to some other drivers who said if the conditions were anything less than perfect they were going to drive like grandmas and be very carefu...

La Carrera Panamericana is a serious race and it requires serious equipment, both for the car and the occupants. I know very little about car racing but learned a lot on this trip. Cars are outfitted with full cage rollbars and it was amazing to see the aftermath of cars rolling on the first two days of racing on the twisty mountain roads of Veracruz. These are cars from the 1950s and 1960s and they are made of tons of steel with steel dashboards and plexiglass side and rear windows. They don't have anti-lock brakes, crumple zones or airbags. During the race we discussed the choice you make if a deer or other large animal crosses the road. Many agree the best thing to do is hit the animal, because if you try to swerve and miss it you can end up going off the road and being injured much more seriously. Our personal safety equipment consists of full Nomex suits, often double layer, or single layer with Nomex underwear. We wear open or closed face auto racing helmets outfitted...

We were blessed to have a 9 am start this morning, after the long day yesterday and not getting to bed until after midnight. It was the first day I didn’t end up in the bar at the end of the day, haha. Geezer was driving this morning and I was to navigate. It was our first time together in the race car and I was excited. My navigation didn’t start out too well as the departure from Queretaro was filled with construction and confusing directions. We took a wrong turn and took 10 minutes to circle our way back. When we got back to where we were, race cars were going two different directions. We were supposed to make our way to Huimilpan, which Geezer immediately started calling Humpy-Pan. We were on a highway and things weren’t adding up. We had missed the turn but we came upon another turn to Humpy-Pan so we took it. We had a limited time to get there and it was 25 km, and I thought we’d be okay. Geezer drove fast through the country roads and ripped through the villages. In...